Widow of Nigeria's ex-President Shehu Shagari dies of COVID complications

The widow of former Nigeria’s President Shehu Shagari has died from COVID-19 complications.

This was confirmed in a statement by the family revealing that Hajiya Hadiza Shehu Shagari died at a hospital in Abuja in the wee hours of Thursday.

“We regret to announce the demise of our beloved mother, Hajiya Hadiza Shehu Shagari, the wife of H.E late President Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, GCFR (Turakin Sokoto),” One of her children Muhammad Bala Shagari in a statement.

The statement further revealed that the former first lady will be buried on Thursday evening.

She was aged 80-year-old when she died. Her family said she died at a COVID-19 isolation centre in Abuja.

“We lost her in the early hours of today, 12th August 2021, at about 3:00 am, after battling Covid-19 at the Gwagwalada Isolation Center in Abuja,” the statement read.

The husband, the former President Shehu Shagari, was the first democratically elected Nigeria’s President in 1979.

His regime was characterized as a dictatorial regime that came after decades of coups and military rules.

Civilian rule returned to Nigeria in 1999, ushering a renewed sense of hope that culminated with the first peaceful transition of power when Muhammadu Buhari, a former military head of state, became president in 2015.